


Since Derry

by Mostlysad



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Fix-It, M/M, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:20:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21994393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mostlysad/pseuds/Mostlysad
Summary: Richie has stopped living since Eddie died,he finds Eddie in the afterlife.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 3
Kudos: 65





	Since Derry

It's been years, years since Richie has lived, Or at least felt alive. Ever since Derry and losing Eddie; Richie has become a walking shell of the man he used to be, his stand up career went to shit and he now spent most of his time at home or in a bar.

Richie stopped caring about his well-being, he had lost so much weight he couldn't even recognize himself. He couldn't sleep anymore, every thought was Eddie. He could've stopped it, he could've saved Eddie. He sometimes wishes that he'd never returned to Derry, he wished he never got that call, he could've avoided it all.

After another long day, Richie laid in his bed, his stomach had been killing him for the past couple days. It's probably just the flu he thought. He could just imagine Eddie overreacting about Richies pain. " Richie it could be something serious! What if it's stomach cancer?! C'mon I'll drive you to the hospital." Richie smiled at that thought. He remembered how Eddie would take care of him when he was sick; God how he missed that. Eddie would practically bring an entire medicine cabinet over when Richie wasn't doing too well.

"I thought you hated germs Eds aren't you scared to contract cooties from me or something." Richie said wiggling his fingers emphasizing the 'cooties'  
Eddie huffed " first of all cooties aren't real! Second of all don't call me Eds."

Richie smiled   
"You know you love it when I call you Eds." Eddie blushed, Richie loved the effect that he had on him.  
"Shut up and take this Advil." Eddie replied. Eddie laughed.

Things used to be so good.

A couple more days passed, something was wrong. Something was really wrong. He'd been puking all day, Richie finally decided that it was time to go to the hospital.

The wait was long, every minute felt like hours, it felt as though a claw was ripping through his gut.

Fuck.

Bad comparison, it just made him think of Eddie, that night...

Ok shut up, Richie wanted to turn off his mind, he couldn't live like this.

"Richard uh Tozier?" A nurse called. Richie got up slowly, holding his hand on his side. "Fuck" he grunted.

He sat in the exam room for another 20 minutes, when finally a doctor came in, "Mr. Tozier?" The man said, he couldn't have been older than 30 he was quite handsome, chiseled jaw, nice brown hair. " What seems to be the problem today?" He asked.

" I can't sleep, can't eat and my stomach hurts so bad."

The doctor had a soft smile, kind eyes, you could tell he was used to this. Bringer of bad news, Richie thought.

"Ok," the doctor said, writing down a couple things. " we're going to take you to get some scans and some blood work done. A nurse will be with you in a moment."

"Ok thank you." Richie said as the doctor left. He was getting tired, he decided that if he was going to spend the day in the hospital then he would try to rest.

•••  
"Richie?" A familiar voice called,  
"Rich?" The voice called again. It was Eddie. Fuck. "Eds! Eddie?" Richie shouted, his voice echoed. "Where are you?!" It was dark, cold and wet.

"I-I'm over here." Eddie grunted.  
Richie ran, he ran and ran, until he saw him. Eddie was laid on the dirty ground, blood spewing from his torso. Tears filled Richies eyes, not again. " oh Eddie." Richie cried, crouching beside him, placing his hand on Eddies cheek.

"You left me Richie," Eddie looked at Richie, he was hurt. "W-what?" Richie stuttered. Eddie slowly got up, gripping tightly onto his torso.

"YOU LEFT ME HERE TO ROT!" He screamed, pointing a guilty finger at Richie.

"No, Eddie please." Richie sobbed.

"You could've saved me, you could've helped me! But you fucking LEFT!" Eddie yelled. Richie closed his eyes "stop please!" Richie screamed back.

Another voice sounded in the distance, this time softer. "Richard? Mr. Tozier?"

Richie woke up, a concerned nurse was staring him in the face, holding a glass of water to his mouth, he pushed it away. "Are You okay?" The nursed said furrowing her eyebrows.

"Fuck, sorry just had a bad dream."  
The nurse gestured over to a wheelchair, Richie sat down, relived that he didn't have to walk.   
"Well let's get your tests done, shall we?" The nurse smiled, Richie didn't.

•••  
After a couple extensive tests and shitty hospital food, his results were finally back. A new doctor came in this time, older, bolder features, his presence seemed to have depressed the room. "Mr.Tozier is it?" The doctor said butchering his last name.

Richie didn't have it in himself to care, "Yes it is."  
"Do you have anyone here with you today? A family member, spouse?" He looked concerned. Oh god Richie thought. "Nope," Richie said pressing his lips together, "it's just me."

" I'm concerned of how this might affect you while you're alone." Richies face dropped. "There's Uhm my friend Bev, I can call her." Richies hands were shaking, his skin was on fire, his eyes were burning. Richie pulled out his phone and texted Beverly,  
•I need you at the hospital ASAP  
She had moved to L.A after the whole reunion in Derry, with Ben. Her and Richie kept in touch, she was there for him while he grieved Eddie, it was like she never left.

Ten minutes later the couple showed up, Beverly greeted Richie with a quick kiss on the cheek, Ben just gave him a hug.

"Okay lets get this started." The Doctor sighed, pulling up some scans. "As you can see here, the liver has almost completely shut down, which is causing all the pain." A small gasp sounded from Bev who was now holding Richies hand. "This is sort of causing a whole domino effect, as your liver shuts down your other major organs will fail as-well. Now we can send you to hospice or have a nurse care for you."

Hospice? Richie wasn't quite understanding, was he dying? After all this time God just decided now to hand him a big FUCK YOU!

"Hospice?" Richie asked, "Why-What do you mean?"

"Mr.Tozier, I don't know how to put this lightly, you are dying." The doctor was calm and collected, like it was completely okay.

Richie couldn't breathe, what the fuck,  
He wasn't ready to die, I mean yeah life was shit but, fuck it wasn't his time.

"Oh," was all Richie could say. "Uhm okay, okay." He spoke to himself, trying to make himself comfortable. " how much time do I have left?" He heard sobbing noises, Bev was crying; when did she start crying?

" I'd say a week, give or take."

•••

It had been a couple days since he'd been to the hospital, he decided that it would be better to die at home. Bev wouldn't leave his side, she was staying at his place, making sure he had something to eat, some fresh clothes pretty much all the stuff the hired nurse was for. As Bev noticed Richies worsening state, she called the rest of the losers. Mike and Bill would be in L.A in a day or so. 

Hes hoping he has that long, he didn't seem to feel much anymore, the morphine drip really subdued the pain, so now all he could do is lie in his bed and fade away. Bev made him some soup, he wasn't hungry but he ate a spoonful to give Bev some false hope. He could barely eat and he was scared to close his eyes, he didn't want it all to end.

another day passed, Mike and Bill had arrived, the losers were all sat around Richies bed, sharing all the good memories. Bill was talking about the time he tricked Eddie into eating mud. Richie wanted to laugh but every breath hurt. He smiled.

"Hey Bev,' Richie said coarsely, "When I die,"

"Richie.." a tear slipped down her cheek, she didn't want to hear it, Ben placed a hand on his wife, the other losers were quiet.

"when I die, can you burry me beside Eddie, I want to be with him, please would you do that?"

Bev noddded, tears were rushing down her pale cheeks, she grabbed onto Richies hand not wanting to ever let go. Richie looked at all the sadness in the room through hooded lids, he had to let them know that they'd be okay. "I love you guys,promise me that you'll be ok?" Richie closed his eyes. He could hear his friends crying and calling his name, but something else caught his attention. An almost blinding white light shined in front of him. He followed the light, it lead to a pearly white room. "Oh shit am I dead?" an impossibly beautiful looking woman came up to him, giving him the whole 'welcome to the afterlife' talk. He really didn't think the afterlife would be so cliche but, there he was, walking through pearly gates.

Something was different, he looked down at his hands, there weren't any wrinkles on his fingers, no hair on his knuckles . He brought a hand up to his hair and was met with thick black curls. He was back to being a 16 year old. He laughed, at least he got his good looks back. He was still in awe when he heard him.

"Richie?" a pause, " Is that really you?"

Richie turned around to see a 16 year old Eddie Kaspbrak. "Ed's?" tears filled his eyes, he ran over to Eddie pulling him into a bone crushing hug. "It's really you!" Richie cried, holding onto the boy he fell in love with.

"Richie you're fucking suffocating me." Eddie laughed.

Richie let go, still keeping Eddie at an arms length. "what are you doing here?" Eddie asked. Richie wanted to Joke: isn't it obvious Eddie spaghetti i'm dead!   
"Organ failure, I kind of gave up on life and shit, y'know after Derry and everything." Richie confessed, looking at the cloud-like ground under his feet. A soft "Rich," left Eddies mouth, had he caused this? Had Richie Given Up because of him? "Richie I'm so sorry." he placed a hand on Richie's face, making him look up. "I didn't want to lose you, God Rich." A sad smile played on Richie's face. 

A soft "Hey," left Richie's lips. "We're together now, that's all that matters." Richie leaned his forehead against the shorter boy's. A moment of silence before Richie Finally leaned in, wrapping an arm around Eddie's waist and pulling him close, pressing a kiss on that beautiful mouth. And Eddie fucking kissed him back, all the longing and sweetness mixed together as he tilted his head bumping their noses together, this was everything he's ever wanted.

After a couple moment their lips drew apart.  
"Wow," was all Eddie could say  
"Yeah," Richie agreed, catching his breath. "Not too shabby Trashmouth," Eddie joked. "Fuck off Ed's, I'm a great kisser, at least, that's what your mom says," Richie teases back. Eddie just rolls his eyes fondly, he could get used to this. "I can't belive that it took us dying for you to finally kiss me." Eddie sort of confesses.

"I've wanted to kiss you since forever, asshole." 

"really?" Eddie smiled.

"yeah"

"Well fuck Rich, if I would've known,"

Richie laughed " Kiss me again, we gotta make up for lost time." 

Eddie laughed, smiling into the kiss and god, Richie was kissing him so damn delicately, like this was the last time they could kiss, capturing every last essence, pulling Eddie closer and closer and closer until there was no space between the two.

"I see you two have made up."

Richie pulled away, seeing Stanley standing behind Eddie, He was also his 16 year old self. Long dirty blonde curls and all, just how Richie remembered. "Fuck man, it's so good to see you," Richie pulled Stan into a short hug. Stan pulled away a golden smile on his face "Thank god you're here I really wasn't planning to spend eternity with Mr. Germophobe over here." Stan joked, Eddie huffed at the clearly unnecessary comment. Richie laughed. God this was good, not the whole dying part of course but, him Eddie and Stan, all together. Richie felt at peace for the first time in a while.

"Stan the man! seems like you've developed a sense of humor in the afterlife. Such a shame it took so long." Richie joked.

"Shut up trashmouth." Stan laughed back.

Eddie grabbed onto Richie's hand, entwining their fingers, "C'mon we'll show you around."

Richie wore the biggest smile on his face, he could finally breathe, he could finally live, now that he had Eddie by his side.

It was good,

It was so, so good.


End file.
